Reaction Times
by Queen of Crack Pairings
Summary: Gokudera loves to play the piano. It's a known fact. Everyone also knows that they can't get a peep out of him when he plays unless it's Tsuna . It seems that Lambo needs to learn this lesson or maybe some new ones altogether . Gokudera/Lambo, TYL


Gokudera plays the piano, fingers nimbly moving over the keys and striking at just the right frequencies. Of course, over twenty years his talent has only sharpened and he fascinates anyone who happens to be fortunate enough to hear him play. They flatter him, sure, but the praise falls on deaf ears. He doesn't want to hear them saying the same things over and over. Not even Takeshi's words get a reaction. In fact, only Tsuna's compliments had worked their way through his right hand man's music induced trance, and even then the result was just a smile. It was_ TSUNA _after all,_ Tsuna _who made Gokudera break out in fits of intense loyalty and possessiveness.

So when Lambo sits beside him and says something about 'fine hands', everyone else in the room is shocked when Gokudera turns and clobbers him.

"He~eeey!" cries the raven, eyes screwed up as he ducks beneath the older man's fury.

"Don't INTERRUPT MY PIANO," the Smokin' Bomb replies angrily and turns back to his precious instrument. The soothing melody of a long-dead composer's well-remembered piece fills the silent room, and everyone begins their inane chatter again. No one admits how stunned they are at Gokudera's reaction, however.

And again, Lambo resumes his place at Gokudera's side, peering over to look at the music sheets. He laughs at the choice, and yet again his face gets beaten into the lovely, previously-ivory, keys. His face, previously worthy of a portrait or a few hundred, now looks like that of someone who has been shoved face first into a beehive. It's not pretty, and yet again, everyone is stunned. How did LAMBO get such a reaction out of Gokudera when he was playing piano?!

"Lambo? Leave him alone, please!" Tsuna says as he pinches the bridge of his nose. Lately the Thunder Guardian's been buzzing around the Storm Guardian a lot, and the result is tempers running high as the rest of the family struggles to pull them apart.

Tsuna knows this. He's bewildered by it, by Lambo's strange behaviour and by Gokudera's violent reactions, but he knows very well that this situation has to be handled soon.

He likes the idea of all of his family members staying alive for as long as possible, thank you.

By the time the brunet has thought all of this through, Lambo's at his side with the look of a scolded puppy.

"I'm sorry, Vongola…"

"It's ok, but just leave him alone when he's on the piano, ok?"

Gokudera hears this warning, can't help but smirk at it. Thank God, now the stupid cow would leave him alone.

Despite being twenty-four, he still has _all_ his grudges intact.

The next day, Gokudera's playing another piece for anyone gathering in the lavish drawing room (which is no one at this stage. But he never actually plays for anyone bar himself anyway, so it doesn't bother him at all). And Lambo sneaks in, a guiltily pleased look on his face.

Of course the Smokin' Bomb hears him come in, he wouldn't be a proper right-hand-man to the Tenth if he didn't, but he tries his hardest to ignore the dumb brat.

"Hayato-kun, I-"

Lambo isn't sure if his technique of using the older man's first name would soften the reaction, but hopes that it does.

"What is it this time?! And where the hell do you get off using my name?!"

Nope, the reaction's worse. The bomber raises a fist, eyes blazing and lips curled back in a snarl. "Go the hell away, you stupid, insolent brat!"

"I just wanted to learn how to play the piano like you!" cries the younger man as he flinches beneath the fury of Gokudera. This admission halts the older man's fists enough to embolden Lambo, make him continue his blurted train of thought. "You always play so well, and it's always so beautiful, and goodness but I just wanted to ask you to teach me but I didn't know how!"

Gokudera drops his hands to his sides and sits down heavily. Why was the stupid cow so flustered over such an easy question?

"So will you teach me?"

He lets the question hang in the silence, likes the drama of the whole situation, lets the stupid kid boil for a few seconds before he gives his response.

"…No."

Lambo's face falls just as Gokudera lets out a bark of laughter and turns back to his beloved, the piano.

"Please, I'm begging you!" he whines, dropping to his knees and grabbing one of the Smokin' Bomb's hands. He buries his face in the immaculate sleeve, crying because hey, he's Lambo and he _cries a lot_, that's just his thing.

"Get off," snaps the older man, shaking his arm in irritation. "Look, I'll teach you if you just get off my arm! It costs a lot to get this clean, you know! Stupid cow."

Obviously this hasty retraction of his previous statement confuses Lambo, and he can't think of a way to repay the favour. There must be something he could offer the older man, but his head is empty of ideas.

And then he gets it. The idea. _The IDEA_. Sure, Gokudera will hit him over the head, but he'll know that his new student is grateful; that's what matters right now.

When Tsuna walks in to see Lambo kissing Gokudera, well, it's grounds enough for him to drop his coffee and walk back out of the drawing room.

And Gokudera, he doesn't beat Lambo's face into the keys until _AFTER_ the lesson. Wouldn't want the poor boy playing on bloodied keys with puffy eyes, would he?


End file.
